Nam
by pathtales
Summary: Historical AU: Spitfire in College during the Vietnam War.


A/N: Inpired by a post by murrmernator on tumblr. Her text is bolded: (Spitfire Vietnam Prompt)

**'You actually ****_believe_**** in this shit?'**

**'Yeah, actually, I do,' he says hotly, feeling a flush creep up his neck. His eyes burn. 'I believe in fighting for my ****_country.'_**

**'Maybe you missed the memo, man, but the war isn't ****_in _****your country. It's not even on this ****_continent_****.'**

**'That's not the point! It not about ****_where_****, it's about what we ****_stand _****for, about freedom-'**

**'You don't know what the hell you're talking about,' she snaps, turning away from him.**

**He sighs and runs a hand through his hair. **

**'What's your problem, huh?'**

**She ignores him. He crosses his arms, leaning back against the cold, dirty wall. 'So what are you, anyway,' he says after a while. 'Chinese?' No answer. He can almost feel her anger, rolling off her shoulders and hitting him in sharp, icy waves. He shivers. 'Japanese?'**

**She turns violently and looks right at him, eyes burning, freezing him in place. 'No,' she hisses, and he swears, just for a moment, he hears her voice tremble. 'I'm ****_Vietnamese._****'**

**He forgets how to breathe.**

"I… I didn't…" he stuttered.

"No, you didn't." She replied in a monotone as turned and walked away. A shudder ran down his back as he watched the girl storm away. Blinking a few times he realized he didn't even know her name. He started back toward his dorm in a daze as his mind raced.

So she was Vietnamese. That would explain why she doesn't like the war, but that shouldn't effect him. Sure he felt a little bad for her, but the fight for freedom was still important.

But a since of doubt he wasn't willing to acknowledge had seeped in the back corner of his mind.

"Dude!" Came a voice that startled him as he realized he was back in his dorm.

"Oh, hey Dick." Wally said to his room mate as he took off his back pack.

"I called your name three times." He laughed. "What's up?"

"Nothing really." He shrugged as he flopped down on his bed. "Got into an argument with some hippie chick in my Lit class."

"Ah." Dick nodded knowingly. "Well, I know the perfect way to get that off your mind. I'm meeting up with Babs and some other friends from Gotham. Beach evening, you in?"

"Sure." Wally shrugged as he quickly changed into his swim trunks. He didn't bother putting on his shirt and just wrapped it in his towel and the two friends headed out. Wally being on the track team and Dick doing gymnastics had given them well defined muscles neither were shy about showing off.

"Hey guys!" Came a sweet voice from a red head in a groovy bikini headed toward them. She kissed Dick quickly before smiling at Wally. "Glad you guys made it!"

"Babs!" Came a voice from another red head running up to her. "Artemis and Connor are being idiots."

"What's new?" Babs rolled her eyes.

"Conner's trying to surf with her on his shoulders." She continued.

"I haven't seen Arty in ages." Dick laughed. "I'll go talk to them."

"Who's the babe?" Wally asked Barbra as the two walked away.

"Meagan, sweet girl." Barbra informed him with a smirk. "Dating Conner."

"Ah man!" Wally groaned as they started following them. "How come he gets all the hot chicks?"

"Well it's not like he the quarter back or anything." Barbra laughed at him.

"Haha, very funny." He rolled his eyes. He suddenly saw a certain blond haired girl laughing with Dick and manged to trip over himself and fall face first in the sand.

"Nice job Baywatch." Came a taunting voice that had been imbedded in his mind. He got up quickly and saw her smile fall as she recognized him.

"Hey Artemis, this is Wally." Barbra laughed. "Wally this is Artemis. Just transferred from Star City University."

"We've met." Wally answered dryly.

"Unfortunately." She replied as she crossed her arms.

"Please tell me you're the hippy from his Lit class!" Dick laughed.

"Hey, this is a party, no political talk." Barbra interrupted.

The rest of the afternoon went well with Wally and Artemis ignoring each other. As it started to get darker, they all gathered around a fire pit they started. Their friend Kaldur had brought his guitar along and was strumming it lightly. Wally was talking mindlessly with Dick and Conner but couldn't help but notice Artemis on the other end of the fire with a cut up tie-dyed shirt covering her biki clad body up. He notice her get up and started to walk along the beach and something inside him pushed him to follow her.

"Hey." He said as he walked up next to her.

"Hello." She said slowly as they continued to walk at a leisurely pace.

"Look, I wanted to apologize for earlier." Wally told her.

"Why?" she asked as she stopped.

"What do you mean?" Wally asked.

"Why are you apologizing?" She asked again with a slight sharpness to her tone.

"Um…" Wally hesitated. He actually wasn't sure.

"You asshole." Artemis laughed cruelly and simply walked away while shaking her head.

Wally was quiet for the rest of the evening and had trouble falling asleep that night. The next day went by on auto pilot until he got to his Lit class. He saw Artemis there early and something in the back of his mind remembered she always seemed to be early.

"I'm sorry for being an asshole and being insensitive to the fact you're Vietnamese." Wally told her quickly before he lost his nerve.

"Excuse me?" She asked, blinking at the quickness of his speech.

"I know why I was sorry." He repeated. "I was insensitive to the face you were Vietnamese."

"And what do you mean by that?" She asked curiously and raised an eyebrow.

"Well, you probably have family over there and worry about their safety." He blushed.

"So you think I would be fine with this war if I was Chinese or Japanese?" She asked coldly.

"That's not what I meant…" Wally flushed.

"Yes, it is." She sat back in her desk and crossed her arms. He noticed through her thin T-shirt she wasn't wearing a bra. He gulped, determined to maintain eye contact.

"Look, you're some feminist hippy, I get it." Wally replied with a huff. "But you don't have to be difficult."

"So I'm difficult because I dress different than the norm and believe in gender equality?" She asked with a growl.

"What?" Wally asked frustratedly. "I'm all for equality and freedom of expression! But I also believe in supporting our government and freedom."

"I believe in freedom too which is why I question the actions of the government!" Artemis shot back. "I believe we have a freedom to protest a war that is wrong. We are "helping" a country that doesn't want us there, causing civilian deaths and lying about it, and forcing men like you to go over! You had a chance to go to college so you don't have to worry about it. Do you even know anyone over there right now? Killed in a strange country they were forced to go to?"

"As interesting as this is." The professor interrupted. "I believe we were discussing Poe."

Wally sat down and tried to pay attention but he simply couldn't. After the class Artemis left so quickly Wally couldn't see which direction she went. Still furious, he went to go grab a burger from the local dinner. While he was waiting for his order to go he heard two unmistakable voices.

"Wally is an idiot Arty." He heard Dick's voice coming from a table nearby. "But he's still my best friend."

"How are you friends with that guy?" Artemis asked.

"My dad and his uncle work together." Dick shrugged. "Same with Conner and Kaldur. Being military brats brings you close. You know my dad? Wally's uncle is the same but unlike me Wally actually wants to Join the Army. He's already signed up to go next month since he's graduating early."

"Wow." Artemis said as she sat back in thought.

"Look, I know you're still upset over Cameron." Dick sighed. "And I get where your coming from on the War. But you also need to see where Wally is coming from."

Wally didn't want to hear anymore. He left quickly, burger forgotten. He went to the beach to just sit and watched as the sun slowly set. Out of the corner of his eyes he saw a jogger run past and realized it was Artemis. Without thinking he ran to catch up with her and started jogging beside her along the beach.

"What are you doing here?" She asked as she came to a halt.

"Who's Cameron?" He winced as the first question that came to his mind left his mouth.

"He was my best friend. He was going to take a year off from college to join the Red Cross." She glared. "Got drafted instead. The blown up two weeks later while trying to save some kids." A small tremor was in her voice again.

"I'm sorry." Was the only thing he could say. An awkward silence passed, for a few seconds or a few minutes neither of them knew.

"You're going in two months." She stated and Wally could only nod. "How old are you?"

"21." He replied. He was proud of graduating with a degree in Physics in only three years.

"And you want to risk your life?" She asked in a low voice.

"Yes." Wally nodded firmly.

"Why?" She voiced with a tremor again.

"Because I want to protect this country." He replied. "Despite the speculation."

"I can respect that." She answered, finally looking him in the eye.

Some how they became friends after that. Not the best of friends, but they had pleasant conversations. Graduation came and went and before they knew it the day had arrived for Wally to go to training camp. Conner, Meagan, Kaldur, Dick, Babs, and Artemis had all come out early in the morning to see him off. Saying his good byes one by one he finally made his way to Artemis.

"Can I write you?" Wally asked after their awkward hug. "I mean, I'm going to write everyone…"

"Wally." Artemis laughed. "Yes, please write. And I promise to write back." She quickly kissed him on the cheek and left. Wally smiled despite himself and got on the bus.

The next month of training was rough and Wally was grateful for sticking with sports in college. He wrote to everyone, but mostly Artemis. By the time he shipped out she had taught him a little about Vietnam and a few phrases for him to know.

In return he told her about growing up all around the US since he lived with his Uncle and Aunt. They began confiding more and more things to each other and became close from correspondence.

Then after six months the letters stopped. Everyone was worried, but no news wasn't necessarily bad news.

Three years went by until it was announced the troops were coming home. Things had changed for everyone. Connor and Meagan had broken up and then gotten back together. Dick and Babs had gotten engaged. Kadur had joined the Navy. Artemis got her law degree and became a defense lawyer for civil rights.

One morning Artemis woke up to her doorbell ringing and her dog barking.

"Shut up Bruce." Artemis groaned as she went to answer the door. She opened it up to see a familiar face. Wally West, in his Army uniform and single dufflebag was standing before her.

"Hi." She said in surprised.

"Hey." He blushed. "I um, just got back and I heard you were now living in DC so I thought I might stop by and …"

She cut him off with by grabbing his collar and kissing him hard. After getting over his initial surprise, he wrapped her in his arms and kissed her back before pulling away when he remember this thing called oxygen.

"Artemis." He whispered as he pressed his forehead to her.  
"Ow!"

"Three years Wally West!" She yelled as she slapped him over the head. "Nothing! We had no idea where you were, how you were. I was so worried!"

"I got in special ops." Wally muttered in a low, haunted voice. "I… I rather not talk about it. Or at least not now."

"It's ok." She said, hugging him tight. "I've been volunteering with the men coming home. I can't even imagine what happened. But you are welcome to stay here if you want. For as long as you need."

"Ok." Wally smiled sadly.

….

That went much sadder than I expected. Um, they lived happily ever after? He?


End file.
